Xenogears: Ragnarok
by Ace Diamond
Summary: 2 years after Deus is defeated, a new Gebler threat surfaces. Only a former rebel and a former etone in training know of the dangers, but can they warn anybody before Gebler's plans are completed?
1. The Escape

Xenogears: Ragnarok

(The following takes place 2 years after Deus is defeated.)

BACKSTORY: THE ERA OF PEACE

After Deus's defeat, there is peace throughout Ignas. Bart has retained his standing as Prince of Aveh. Citan Uzuki has managed to create an alternate power source for the Gears; the fusion engine, which can supply unlimited power to a gear. Bart made peace with Kislev 1 year after Deus's defeat, and had slowly decommissioned 70% of all gears in his Army. Kislev also did the same. Now more industial gears, such as construction and repair gears are being bulit. A new golden age of peace reigns throughout Ignas. But there are some who do not want peace, and would rather see it destroyed…

Chapter 1

"If I could do things over, I would have stayed out of the desert." –Jason MacKenzie

"Call me trash, will they?"

Kharan Ramsus mumbled to himself as he stood on the wrecked bridge of the _Kefenzeil_. Somehow, he had managed to survive his own suicide, by some cruel cosmic joke. He had spent the last 2 years scheming of a way to get revenge on the ones who tried to destroy him. Now, he was almost ready.

"Soon, all will be ready, and I shall destroy Aveh, destroy the Fatima dynasty, and destroy Hyuga and Sigurd! And, as a bloody formality, I shall dispose of that schizophrenic bastard Fei, and his stupid bitch! As for the rest of them…they shall not live to mourn their friends." Ramsus laughed evily.

A Gebler officer, one who had survived Solaris's destruction, walked up to Ramsus. "General, the _Devastator_ and the _Invincible_ are ready for takeoff."

"Very well, let us go to Base Solaria. I would like to check on project Ragnarok."

"As you command, General"

From the depths of the desert, two Gebler Aerial Battleships rose up and headed towards the Aquavy region.

On board the battleship _Invincible_, there were prison cells to hold people that had been captured by the Solarians and were going to be sent to work camps, such as Base Solaria. In one such cell, Leftenant Jason MacKenzie, formely of General Maitreya's command, sat, cursing his bad luck. Ever since the day he had been captured, he had been forced to work on completing the two Gebler warships for Ramsus's insane purpose, whatever it was. Now he was being sent to some base, to do more work on some mysterious project known only as Ragnarok. Jason decided he wanted no part of it, and was preparing for an escape attempt.

"Why are you pacing back and forth like that?"

Jason looked over at his cellmate, who had asked the question. The cellmate was a young man, maybe only 18 or so. His brown hair was a little messy, and probably in need of a haircut. He was a little on the chubby side, but Jason could tell that the kid had been losing weight as a result of the forced labor.

"I'm trying to figure out a way out of here. I've had it, having to be forced to work for two years straight!"

"Well, let me help," the kid said.

"What can you do?" Jason asked, "You're just a kid! I don't even know your name!"

"It's Bob," the kid answered. "Bob Smithson. And I'm not a kid, I happen to be 18."

"Yeah, well I'm 26 so you're a kid to me," came Jason's gruff reply. "How did you get captured anyway?"

"It was about 2 years ago." Bob started "I used to be an Etone-In-Training under Billy Lee Black.

"Hey…I know him!" Jason suddenly answered "He was the priest that helped out our rebel efforts when Prince Bart needed assistance with one of his friends being in a coma…I think his name was Fei. Soon after, Billy joined up with us."

"Well, I don't know too much about any rebel effort, but it sounds like something Billy might do." Bob said. "Anyway, while Billy was on a mission with the one you call Bart, the Ethos HQ was attacked. I was present during the attack, and tired to resist using the guns Billy had given me. I failed to protect my faith. I was knocked to the ground and captured, forced to watch everybody die. I have shamed my religion."

"I got bad news for ya, kid." Jason said. "Your religion is a fake created by Solaris to get people in work camps like this one."

"NO!!! It cannot be true!" Bob shouted

"It is though…Billy told us all as much on the _Yggdrasil_. He seemed pretty shaken up by it. Look, if I help you escape, and you help me, I'll take you to Billy, and have him tell you the truth."

"ok…but first I want to know how you ended up here."

"Well, this all happened two years ago as well. I used to be a part of the "Fatima Rebels". I served under General Maitreya, and had a good job as a Gear pilot. After General Maitreya was listed as killed when he was fighting the Dora, I was angry that nobody had gone to confirm his death. So after we defeated Shakhan, I asked to go to the battle site, and confirm his fate. Bart agreed, and I headed out. When I reached the battle site, it looked like some construction was going on. I went to investigate, and found myself ambushed by the Gebler Knights, 5 gears of incredible strength. I severly damaged one of them before my Gear was disabled. I was then put to work building the battleship we're stuck on."

"Very interesting." Bob said. "So how are we going to escape?"

"Well, I built the door circuits for the prison cells, if I can just get to them…I just don't have anything to pry this panel off," Jason said indicating a panel near the door.

Bob produced a small dagger "Take this."

"Wait…how did you get this?" 

"I found it on the ground near the construction site and I strapped it to my ankle. The guards must have missed it when they searched me."

"Good job," Jason said as he took the knife and used it to remove the panel. He quietly placed the panel on the ground so as not to attract attention. Then he pulled out a set of wires. "Now, I can disable the alarm and the door locks." Jason said as he cut a green wire, then a red wire. There was a _klik_ noise as the door unlocked.

"I'm going to check outside, wait here." Jason said. He slowly slid the door open, and checked outside. He and Bob were the only prisoners there. The only guard on duty was facing away from him. Jason ducked back inside, just leaving the door slightly open. As the guard walked past, Jason flung the door open and attacked. He punched the guard in the side of the head, dropping the Gebler soldier to the ground. Jason checked to make sure the guard was unconscious, then he picked up the guard's rifle and pistol.

"Here, take this" Jason said as he handed Bob the pistol. "You do remember how to use one, right?"

Bob removed the pistol's clip, reloaded it, and cocked it "Yeah. So now what do we do?"

"Well, I'm going to go to the Gear hangars and try to steal a Gear and escape. Do you know how to pilot a Gear?"

"Somewhat…Billy gave me some basic training so as to combat larger Wels." Bob answered

"Good enough. Follow me" Ed said as he armed the rifle and unlocked the door from the prison chamber. The door opened up to a large hallway. At the end of the hallway, there was a branching path that took the hallway either left or right.

"The hangars are on the starboard side, so we'll take the right hand path." Jason said as he started running down the hall, Bob following close by. As they neared the branch, two Gebler soldiers rounded the left corner. Jason brought up the rifle and opened fire. The lead soldier caught three bullets in his chest and flew backwards. The other soldier began to backpedal towards cover, but Bob shot him through the head.

"Nice shot." Jason said. "Now let's keep moving."

The two of them ran down the hall and around the bend, in the direction of the hangar bays. Three more Gebler soldiers were right behind them. Bob spun around and dispatched two of them, allowing Jason to finish off the thrid with another three-round burst. They kept running until they reached the hangar. 

"Well, here we are, all we have to do now is steal a couple Gears and fly outta here." Jason said as he activated the door.


	2. Freefall

Xenogears: Ragnarok 

Chapter 2

"I got thrown out of a plane, without a parachute." –James Bond, _Moonraker_

The doors to the hangar bay opened up, and Jason gaped at what he saw. The hangar was massive, filled with Gears of all kinds, including some Jason never saw before. He had to estimate at least 100 Gears inside the hangar.

"Dear God…" Bob said

"All right, just go searching for a Gear you like, try to make it quick." Jason said

They started running through the ranks of Gears, each looking for something suitable. Jason suddenly stopped after about 2 minutes of searching. Before him was a Gear unlike any other. Its head had been crafted into a skull-like shape. It was carrying an automatic rifle in its right hand, with a rocket launcher slung under it. Jason immediately knew he wanted to pilot this Gear. _It's like a giant version of the Grim Reaper, a fitting name for this Gear_, he thought.

"All right I've found my ride, how about you, Bob?"

"Jason, you've got to see this." Bob called over about 5 Gears away

Jason ran to where Bob was standing. He looked at the Gear Bob was pointing to. "Isn't this…"

"It is!" Bob answered. "This is _Renmazuo_! Billy's gear! I wonder how Gebler got it."

"Well, go and pilot it out of here. We can find out how it got here later." Jason said as he ran back to the Gear he wanted.

Jason scrambled up the Gear's ladder and into the cockpit. He pulled down a combat helmet, and strapped it on. Then he began to go trough the system startup sequence.

"Fusion Core powering up" said the female voice of the computer

__

Fusion Core? Jason wondered _What the hell happened to the Zohar Modifier?_ Then he remembered some Gebler troops talking about stealing plans for a new and better Gear power source. _Hmm…I guess the Fusion Core is that source_. 

He continued with the startup. The weapons activated and armed. Jason saw that in addition to the Machine Gun and the rocket launcher, he had 2 pulse lasers mounted in the chest of his Gear _This should be interesting_ he thought. The startup sequence finally finished, and the Gear was Jason's to command. First thing Jason did was open up a communication to _Renmazuo_ "Bob, how you doing over there?"

"Everything's good, all systems nominal" Bob answered

"Good. First things first," Jason said "Switch your IFF transponder to code Alpha-Tango-Foxtrot 7. This is the old code that the Rebels used. If they recognize it for what it is, they should be able to help us get back to Bledavik.

"Got it," Bob said. A few seconds later Bob's gear showed up as a blue circle on Jason's radar screen.

"All right, let's get the doors open and get out of here."

***

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the cruiser, an alarm went off.

"What's going on?!" Ramsus shouted

"We've detected unauthorized powerup of two Gears in hangar bay 1." Reported the sensors officer. "We've isolated their IFF transponder. They're using a rebel frequency, I think the pilots might be plotting escape!"

"Get all available pilots to the hangar!" Ramsus ordered. "We must stop those Gears!"

***

Jason heard the intruder alarms go off inside the hangar "SHIT! They must have detected our powerup. Bob, we need to open those doors fast!"

"It's not going to be easy!" Bob shouted, "The doors are designed not to be forcefully hotwired, or blown apart."

"Fine, you work on the doors, I'll handle whoever's coming to stop us." Jason said as he throttled up his Gear and marched towards the doorway back to the ship. _Okay, Grim Reaper, _he thought, _Time to go to work_.

The doors slid open, and numerous pilots stated running towards various Gears. Behind them came guards armed with rocket launchers. Jason brought the Machine Gun on line and targeted the soldiers. _This is for 2 years of labor! _He though as he pulled the trigger.

The Machine Gun belched out a stream of high velocity slugs. The bullets tore into the soldiers and pilots, sending 20 of them flying. Still more soldiers came running through, some of them now actively shooting at him. The small arms fire ricocheted off of _Grim Reaper's _armor. Jason paid it no mind as he fired a rocket at the doorway. The rocket exploded, throwing 10 soldiers into the air, and destroying the door controls. The door slammed shut, permanently. Jason looked to his left, and saw a Gebler pilot trying to bring his _Trooper Mk. 100_ online. Jason wouldn't give him the chance. He fired his Machine Gun and his rocket launcher at the cockpit of the Gear. The bullets shattered the glass, and the two rockets finished the job. The Gebler Gear's head was turned into a flaming torch as the Gear crumpled to the ground.

"I'm picking up multiple powerups, at least 15!" Bob said frantically "Give me some backup!"

"I'm on my way" Jason said as he started heading towards the bay doors. Suddenly an enemy Gear came around the corner. Jason's targeting computer identified it as a _Beamos_. Jason had ever encountered this kind of gear before, but he soon found it was aptly named. The Gear was armed with what appeared to be some kind of shoulder mounted cannon on it's right side. This cannon suddenly shot out a large laser beam at _Grim Reaper_. The laser carved into _Grim Reaper's_ left torso, the force of the blast sufficient enough to cause the Gear to stumble.

__

One more hit like that and I could be in trouble! It blew off 50% of my armor on the left torso! Jason thought as he regained his balance. He brought the Machine gun up and pressed the trigger. A stream of bullets lanced into the _Beamos_'s armor, blasting away armor plating in scores. Jason followed up with two rockets, that bracketed the laser cannon. The _Beamos _reeled backwards from the assault, and Jason could see that he had hit some internal components. _A lot of firepower, but not a lot of armor, and only one weapon. Must be a light Gear_. Jason thought. _Time to see what these pulse lasers can do!_ He pressed the trigger for the pulse lasers. A flurry of green darts stabbed out at the _Beamos_. _It's almost like a laser machine gun! _Jason thought as he walked the lasers over the enemy gear, right at the laser cannon. The pulse beams blew through the already thin armor on the _Beamos_, and hit the charge capacitors for the cannon. The capacitors blew apart in a massive explosion that tore the right side of the Gear apart. Unable to deal with the sudden shift in weight, the enemy gear spun and crashed to the ground. Jason had no time to celebrate, as he put _Grim Reaper _into a run and started to head for the bay doors. He saw that Bob was currently trying to rewire the door controls with one of _Renmazuo's _hands, while firing the wrist mounted gattling gun on the Gear's free arm. Jason saw the gattling bullets knock down a _Wand Knight_ that got in the line of fire.

"Bob, what's the status on the door?"

"I can't rewire it easily, I think we'll have to try something else!" Bob answered. He now brought both of _Renmazuo's_ gattling guns into play, blasting the leg off of a _Beamos_.

Jason then saw another _Beamos_ standing in front of the door, trying to draw a bead on _Renmazuo_. "Oh no you don't!" he shouted as he brought all his weapons to bear on the Gebler Gear. The first rocket smashed apart the light armor on the Gear, the machine gun and pulse lasers punched through what was left, skewering the fusion core. As the core went critical, it created a massive explosion that consumed the _Beamos_, and blew apart the hangar bay doors. 

"Well, that's one way out of here!" Jason said "Come on Bob, we're getting out of here!" Both pilots jumped their Gears out of the Gebler ship, and fell towards the ground almost 10000 feet below, both pilots using their Gear's jump jets to slow the rate of descent.

***

"General Ramsus, they have escaped the hangar" said the Tactical officer

"Very well, send out pursuit units, 10 should do it." Ramsus answered "Also, bring laser turrets on line, target the escapee's Gears"

"Roger, should I deploy the Elements?"

"No, their time for combat will come."

***

"Where the hell are we?" Bob asked

"Right now, it looks like we're over the desert that surrounds Bledavik. I think we're just north of Dazil. Once we land, we should head north, we should reach Bledavik."

"That's assuming we survive the trip down." Bob said "I'm picking up 10 enemy Gears, and the _Invincible _is charging weapons."

"What about the _Devastator?_" Jason asked.

"Still continuing on present course. I guess they don't think we're a major threat to warrant two battleships." Bob said sarcastically

"All right, we should try to fight our pursuing Gears, but keep moving so the _Invincible _can't target us easily. Also, keep flying northward. The closer we get to Bledavik, the more likely somebody will come to investigate." Jason said. He turned _Grim Reaper _around to face his pursuers. "Come and get it!" he yelled as he fired rockets at the lead Gears, two _Wand Knights_. The rockets struck, and the Gears were knocked off course, smashing into each other. A series of pulse laser bolts blew one of the _Wand Knight's _fusion core, consuming both Gears in a fireball of destruction. Bob opened fire with _Renmazuo'_s Ether guns, blasting apart a _Trooper Mk. 100_. An enemy _Sword Knight _flew directly at Jason. Unable to get a solid target lock in time, Jason punched the enemy gear with _Grim Reaper's _left hand. The _Sword Knight _grappled with _Grim Reaper, _intent on bringing it's cutting blades into play. Ed saw out of the corner of his eye, that one of the _Invincible's_ laser cannons was about to fire at him. Quickly, Jason swung the _Sword Knight _around to shield his Gear, and then pushed away from the enemy by shooting the _Sword Knight_ with his rocket launcher. The battleships laser cannon fired, and hit the _Sword Knight _in the waist, blasting the legs away from the upper body. Without the leg jets to support its flight, the _Sword Knight _could only tumble endlessly towards the ground.

***

"The resistance is heavier than I expected." Ramsus said as he watched the _Sword Knight's _demise, "Deploy 10 more gears to take out those escaped Gears, then have the _Invincible_ resume course for Base Solaria."

***

Meanwhile, while Bob and Jason were fighting for their freedom and their lives, Citan, Billy, and Maria were on patrol 20 miles south of Bledavik. Citan's comminicator beeped

"Colonel Uzuki?"

"Yes, what is it?" asked Citan

"This is sensor control. We've picked up aerial explosions and what may be weapons fire 30 miles south from your position."

"Can you confirm?" Citan asked _There hasn't been fighting for almost a year now, It's probably just bandits_ he thought.

"Well, the signals are sort of faint…it could be a mal…wait a minute! We just got a .6 magnitude quake from that position. That area is geologically stable! Something is definitely going down there!"

"Fine, we'll go check it out" Citan answered "Billy, Maria, follow me; there is a disturbance south of us."

__

Fenrir, Renmazuo II, and _Sebzehin_ headed south, towards the disturbance


	3. Assistance From An Obivous Source

Xenogears: Ragnarok 

Chapter 3

"And this time, Mr. Stamper, could you please kill the bastards!?" –Carver, _Tomorrow Never Dies_

***

"The _Invincible _has launched 10 more Gears, including two _Calamities!_" Bob shouted into the comm.

Upon hearing this, Jason's heart almost stopped. He had heard of the destructive power of a _Calamity _Gear from Bart. Apparently, Bart and Fei had run into one of the giant Gears underneath the desert. Jason later got a visual display of the destructive power of such a gear, when _Seibzehn _and _Achtzehn _fought over Shevat.

"Stay as far away from the _Calamities _as possible, and keep moving north!" Jason told Bob, as Jason fired a couple of rockets at an oncoming _Hatamoto Mk3_. The enemy Gear took one hit to the left leg, and moved back out of range, while it's escape was covered by two _Neo Musha Mk100s_ The Gebler Gears sent machine gun bullets towards _Grim Reaper_, and scored several hits on the Gear's center torso. Jason fought for control of his Gear as the bullet impacts shook _Grim Reaper _around. _It's like a grab bag of almost every Gear widely used by a military force_, Jason thought, _All that's missing is…_

A _Duermod_ holding a sub machine gun made a charge at Jason._ Well, now I know that Gebler didn't build the Gears in the hangar_, Jason thought as he shot at the oncoming Gear with his pulse lasers. The _Duermod_ took the pulse lasers in the chest, armor boiling away. Jason followed up with three rockets, the last one piercing the _Deurmod's _fusion core. The Gear exploded in a powerful blue-white fireball.

"Thank god I didn't steal that Gear!" Jason laughed. Then he saw the lead _Calamity _accelerating directly towards him. Then Jason noticed he was 50 feet from the ground, so he landed and started running. Next to him, he saw Bob was doing the same. Despite this however, the _Calamity _was gaining on them, as were the other 10 Gears.

***

From behind a ridge, Citan was witnessing the battle only 1 mile away. Next to him stood the gears of Billy and Maria.

"What do you think?" Billy asked Citan

"Well, the two gears are displaying a friendly IFF code Bart used to use before taking the throne back. On the other hand, the 10 gears attacking them are displaying Gebler IFF codes. My guess is that we should try to help the two friendlies." Citan responded. With that he activated _Fenrir's _boosters and flew towards the raging battle. _Renmazuo II _and _Seibzehn _following close behind.

***

Jason's threat indicator gave off a wailing siren as the lead _Calamity _locked its weapons on him. He decided to at least face death head on, and turned to face his attacker. All of a sudden, a green and white Gear with a Katana rushed at the _Calamity_. Almost too fast to see, the mystery gear brought its Katana across the _Calamity's_ torso in an impressive draw cut. A second later, the torso of the enemy Gear split open and exploded, it's fusion core breached. The other _Calamity _fired missiles at Bob's gear, only to be blocked by a massive dark blue gear similar to a _Calamity_. Jason recognized it as _Seibzehn_. The blue gear fired it's own set of missiles, immolating the enemy gear. Then, a black gear that looked strikingly similar to _Renmazuo _flew in and finished the second _Calamity _off with twin pistol shots to the head. The black gear then went to combat the other Gebler Gears as they flew to attack the three new threats.

Jason's communicator beeped. "This is Colonel Citan Uzuki of the Fatima Heavy Guards, identify yourself!" came a voice. Jason found it was coming from the green and white sword-wielding gear.

"Dr. Uzuki!" Jason shouted, "Man, am I glad to see you."

"And you are?" Citan asked

"This is Leftenant Jason MacKenzie of the Sand Pirates 1st Gear Division, formerly commanded by General Maytriea."

"Leftenant MacKenzie disappeared over 2 years ago." Citan said

"I was captured by Gebler, it's a long story. Right now I'd like to get rid of these 8…no 7 Gears still trying to kill me and my friend in _Renmazuo_. The last part about the gears was because _Seibzehn _downed one of the _Neo Musha Mk. 100s_.

"Who is your friend, and what is he doing in my old gear?" Billy suddenly cut in "And furthermore, why have the 7 remaining Gebler gears stopped trying to attack us?"

"Well, first of all," Bob said "I think they're waiting for us to finish the explanation of why I'm here, and why Jason is here. Secondly, I am Bob Smithson, I used to be training as an Etone, but when the Ethos was attacked, I was captured and sent to the same work camp as Jason. We escaped from a Gebler battleship, and to do that we stole two Gears. Jason stole that Gear, which I believe he aptly calls _Grim Reaper_, while I stole _Renmazuo_, which was inside the battleship's hangar for some reason."

"All right, we'll have to go over this in detail later, but for now, we need to get rid of the enemy." Citan said as he boosted towards the enemy Gears. The other 4 gears followed suit. The Gebler forces were no match for the 5 gears, and were soon destroyed.

"Okay, we should take you back to Bledavik so that you can find out just exactly what has been going on for the last two years, and so that you can explain why there were Gebler forces attacking you." Citan said to Jason and Bob

"Why would that be odd?" Jason asked as they started flying back towards Bledavik

"Because Solaris and Gebler have been destroyed for two years now." Was Citan's only response.


End file.
